It’s no secret that the Iowa Women’s Basketball team can put the ball in the hoop at a high rate. They averaged 84.2 points per game a season ago and scored over 100 three times, but tonight the offense hit historic levels. The Hawkeyes scored a school record 115 points, including a Carver WBB record 61 second half points, as they coasted to a 115-62 victory over Evansville.
“I thought we played a really really good first half. Only had six turnovers. A lot of really good things tonight,” said Coach Lisa Bluder. “We did a great job on the boards, both offensively and defensively. We owned the paint tonight.”
Iowa got things rolling in the first quarter behind the play of point guard Caitlin Clark, while the defense held the Purple Aces to just 3/16 shooting. Clark scored eight points in the span of 1:31 and then she found McKenna Warnock for an open three to put the Hawkeyes up 16-4. They led 26-7 after the opening frame. It was a much different start to the game compared to the opener against Southern.
“I think when you go back and watch the film of Southern, we realized they weren’t crashing (for rebounds), which slowed down our transition offense quite a bit,” said Caitlin Clark. “That is our best offense, every team knows that. When we executed that, we played defense, and we got the ball inside to Monika. It just felt a lot better. Felt like Iowa basketball.”
The Hawkeyes pushed their lead to 54-23 at the half and then exploded for 35 points of offense in the third quarter, while Clark, Czinano and Hannah Stuelke combined for 25 of the points scored.
“We were just doing what we always do, but we were kind of all on the same wavelength in that moment and just kind of firing on all cylinders,” said Czinano. “That’s what we’re capable of and continuing to get to that spot in every game is our goal.”
The big third quarter opened the door for the Hawkeyes to break a couple of school records, including the most points in a game in school history with 115. The previous record was 108 against Illinois in 2019.
“You don’t score the most points ever by walking the ball down the floor,” said Coach Bluder. “You’ve got to run and play fast. We like to play fast and then obviously we shot the ball very well…Shot 50% from three-point range and if you take out the threes, we shot 69% from two-point range. Those are some really good numbers.”
Caitlin Clark led the team with 26 points, 12 assists and five rebounds, but the Hawkeyes got good performances across the board. Monika Czinano bounced back after just four shots in the opener and scored 23 points on 10/14 shooting, while also grabbing seven rebounds. McKenna Warnock added 15 points and eight boards, including three 3pt makes. True freshman Hannah Stuelke added 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists in 14 minutes on the floor. Molly Davis also added seven rebounds.
The defensive effort stood out with the Hawkeyes holding Evansville to 25.0% shooting in the first half and 14.3% from behind the arc. For the entire game, the Purple Aces scored just three points in transition after scoring 89 against Eastern Kentucky in their season opener. The Hawkeyes stole 11 passes and blocked four shots.
“We knew that they were going to be a team that wants to get up and down just like us, so transition defense was really good for us,” said Caitlin Clark. “Especially in the first half defending the three-point line…If we can keep every team around 62 (points) I think we’re going to have a pretty good shot at doing what we want to do.”
The rebounding effort was one that stood out with the Hawkeyes out-rebounding the Purple Aces 51-23. They grabbed 80.4% (37/46) of defensive rebounds and impressive 50% (14/28) offensive rebound chances. Addison O’Grady and Monika Czinano each had three offensive rebounds, while six players grabbed 5 or more defensive boards.
“I’m just really proud of our rebounding tenacity,” said Czinano. “I think in the first quarter, we didn’t have any offensive boards, but we knew we were crashing, and we knew that eventually we were going to get them, and we did…It’s been something we’ve been working on for a long time, so I’m excited to see how that progresses as competition gets a little bit better.”
“That’s what teams do if they want to get to the Final Four, so that’s been a focal point,” said Caitlin Clark. “Coach Bluder rewards that in practice and I think people like Hannah Stuelke, McKenna Warnock, Kate Martin, those are people that can really crash the boards for us.”
With the win, the Hawkeyes move to 2-0 on the young season and have scored 202 points. All 13 players that have played have scored in both games. Coming up on Sunday is the first test of the season, as they travel to the Knapp Center in Des Moines for an in-state rivalry match-up. The Bulldogs defeated 2022 WNIT participant Green Bay in the opener 80-67. The game is at 2:00pm and will be streamed on ESPN+.
